OAKLAND, Calif. – At a pressurized time like this, we rely on the sage advice of some of the wisest thinkers of modern time.

So Charles Barkley was analyzing a mid-'90s playoff series between his Phoenix Suns and Houston, when he said that the Rockets were "like a snake." You had to cut off their head, he said, or they would come back to life and bite you.

Barkley was talking about a reigning NBA champion. The Mavericks aren't champs. But the analogy still applies since they are the No. 1 seed and started the playoffs nearly two weeks ago as favorites for the title.

Clearly, the Golden State Warriors are going to have to take a machete to the Mavericks to win this first-round series that has become highly entertaining theater. The Mavs reached down deep Tuesday for a rousing win, but now they must do the hard part – winning in the hostile environment of Game 6 at Oracle Arena tonight.

There will be 20,000-plus rowdies rooting against them. And yet, you get the feeling the Mavericks were just playing possum when they fell behind 3-1 in the series. Now down 3-2, the best road team in the NBA during the regular season needs one victory out of its suitcase to force Game 7 at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

Pressure swings both ways in this situation.

"I'm not saying we don't have any," Avery Johnson said of the Mavericks, who still have their backs firmly against the wall. "I just think they're in a situation where there's a lot of pressure to close us out. Sometimes, it's just a game of inches. Sometimes the shots fall, sometimes they don't. Sometimes you get stops, sometimes you don't.

"Now things are a little bit tighter. We'll just see how everybody responds."

Obviously, the Warriors don't want to come back to Dallas for a seventh game, which would heavily favor the Mavericks. That could raise their stress level tonight.

The Mavericks, meanwhile, are hoping Tuesday's gut-check will be a U-turn for them in the series, similar to the reversal Miami got in Game 3 of the NBA Finals last year, when they overcame a 13-point deficit in the last 6 ½ minutes. The Mavs never won again and lost the title four games to two.

Nobody knows if this will follow that path. But the framework for grabbing the momentum is in place.

"I think we've got a lot of heart on this team, a lot of pride," Dirk Nowitzki said. "Last year, we fought our way to the Finals. We won some tough games on the road. I think this team will never give up."

That much was evident in Game 5, when they fell behind, 112-103, with just over three minutes left, then scored the last 15 points of the game, 12 by Nowitzki, to extend the series.

They are not done, although with so many people suggesting that the momentum has swung to Dallas' side, that's a sure sign of trouble. Too often, all those so-called experts are wrong.

But there is little doubt that there was a gleam in the Mavericks' eyes Wednesday. It bore a resemblance to Ben Crenshaw's quiet confidence at the 1999 Ryder Cup, when the American team was getting trounced after two days, but Crenshaw announced that he had "a good feeling about this." The Americans pulled out a dramatic win on Sunday.

It's the Mavericks who must see if they have that sort of feeling – and that sort of conviction – to become the ninth team in NBA history to climb out of a 3-1 hole.

"We think of all the things we've done in the regular season, and the thought of it ending at this point is hard to swallow," Austin Croshere said.

Added Josh Howard: "We're a hungry team. They had their chance and we crawled out of it. We went on that run to win the game. We know what we want to do and where we want to get to."

Tonight, they will have to deal with the noise and a Warriors team that will go heavy on the passion and adrenaline. You can bet Baron Davis will be even more aggressive. And the Mavericks have to expect Golden State's 3-point shots to continue to fall at the same astounding rate they've been dropping all series.

Yet, their confidence is showing through.

"Last night showed pretty much that we have a lot of mental toughness," Johnson said. "Guys that have put a lot into this season. And they haven't played their best basketball. And the Warriors, it seems like early in the series ... they made every single shot and got all the breaks.

"But this [Mavs] team is a weird team in a way that they can get on a big roll. And if they can get on a roll, they're pretty hard to beat."